Sorry in advance for this - I'm just reminding you that you blink and breath. That's annoying isn't it? Here's something more to think about:
While you stroll down the high-street, your brain is (mostly subconsciously) analysing your surroundings to keep you safe. Your eyes are on the look out for anything threatening, your nose is smelling for fire, your skin is helping to tell whether you're too warm or too cold, your feet are making sure the ground beneath your feet is stable and not slippy and your ears are capturing a spherical image of your surroundings. Your ears in particular are not only giving your brain information to figure out what the sounds around you are, they are telling the brain where they are, how far they are from you, are they moving towards you or away? At what speed?
That's a lot of information. And interior spaces often make your ear's job much more difficult - now your brain has to deal with lots of indirect reflections! Your ears first hear the sound directly from the sound source. Then almost immediately afterwards, they receive thousands of reflections of the same sound bouncing off of every hard surface surrounding you. Now your brain has to decipher which sound is the direct sound in order to figure out where it is (localising).
Our brains are pretty good at localising the direct sound - especially when you are actively listening and focusing on it, such as a conversation or music from a speaker. But remember - your brain isn't just listening for the music or the person you are talking with; it is still analysing every sound around you - figuring out where it's coming from, how far away it is and whether it's a threat.
Everyone is susceptible to sensory overload however a majority of people have a higher threshold to deal with all of this sensory information, some are more in touch with their subconscious and their senses. This is especially profound for those on the autism spectrum and ADHD, sufferers of anxiety and stroke survivors amongst other brain injuries.
At Noisevoid, we often find ourselves comparing sound to water in an effort to help people understand some of its physics and how it can be absorbed. If you imagine you have a bucket of sound (water) and you throw it at a concrete wall, you'll find that the sound has bounced straight back off the wall splashing sound all over the space. If you have hard flooring, the sound will continue to bounce and travel along the floor - but if you have a thick carpet, the carpet will absorb the spill and stop it from spreading. If you have a big sponge on the wall, most of the sound can be absorbed before it even hits the floor. This is what we call acoustic absorption and it is one of the most effective acoustic tools for reducing reflections - helping your ears to localise sound instantly, thus freeing up precious cognitive bandwidth.
By adding acoustic absorption to interior spaces, we can greatly reduce indirect reflections and in turn the workload on your ears and brain. Acoustic treatment is a very effective way to free up cognitive bandwidth for everyone - improving focus, tranquility and comfort. It's also not as expensive or ugly as you may think. Soft furnishings, curtains, rugs and even plants are a great place to start. However, if sound quality in your space is still poor or you're looking to provide ultimate comfort and minimal sensory overload, specialist acoustic absorbers come in almost infinite shapes, sizes and colours and are incredibly effective.
If you are interested in joining the fight against sensory overload and/or improving sound quality in your space, click the email button below and we will get back to you as soon as possible -
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